Departmental Secondment

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many secondments of staff were made  (a) to and  (b) from his Department in each year since 1997; which organisations staff were seconded (i) to and (ii) from; how many staff were seconded in each year; for how long each secondment lasted; and what the cost was of each secondment in each year.

Shahid Malik: DFID is unable to respond to all parts of this question as our central records do not go back to 1997 and the cost of each secondment is not maintained. We have held central secondment records since 2003 details of which have been placed in the Library of the House.

Occupied Territories: Poverty

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his most recent estimate is of the percentage of Palestinians  (a) in the West Bank and  (b) in the Gaza Strip (i) living below the poverty line and (ii) unemployed; and what assessment he has made of the impact of his policies on their situation.

Shahid Malik: According to the UN Development programme, 56 per cent. of households in the West Bank, and 70 per cent. in Gaza were living below the income poverty line in early 2007. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, unemployment in the second quarter of 2007 was 23 per cent. in the West Bank, and 32 per cent. in Gaza. More recent data reflecting the deteriorating situation in Gaza since June 2007 are not available. While poverty and unemployment levels have both increased, the situation would be far worse without international assistance. During 2006, aid from DFID and other donors helped to slow the decline in Gross Domestic Product from a predicted fall of 27 per cent. to 10 per cent.
	The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provides humanitarian updates at www.ochaopt.org. DFID plans to conduct a humanitarian assessment in Gaza in coordination with the UN.

Sudan: Peacekeeping Operations

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations the Government has made to NATO on logistical support for the UN-African Union force in Darfur, Sudan.

Meg Munn: I have been asked to reply.
	The UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), in consultation with the African Union, is generating the UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID) through negotiations with individual countries rather than multilateral institutions. We have not made representations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) on logistical support for UNAMID.
	In 2005 the African Union requested NATO's assistance for the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMIS) in Darfur. Since July 2005, NATO has coordinated strategic airlift for AMIS. NATO will continue this support until the transition from AMIS to UNAMID on 31 December 2007. Working with NATO, we continue to fund specific AMIS troop rotation airlifts.

Sudan: Peacekeeping Operations

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what air and ground transport capacity the Government  (a) has provided and  (b) plans to provide to the UN-African Union force in Darfur, Sudan.

Meg Munn: I have been asked to reply.
	We have paid for troop rotation airlifts for the African Union (AU) Mission in Sudan which will become part of the UN-AU force in Darfur (UNAMID). We support the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations' efforts to provide helicopters and ground transportation for UNAMID.

UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when the UK is to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.

Gareth Thomas: As the United Kingdom (UK) never signed the Convention, and since the time for signing the Convention is closed, the process now would be for accession rather than ratification.
	The UK has no immediate plans to accede to the 1997 United Nations (UN) Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. Only 16 countries have ratified the Convention, whereas 35 countries are required for the Convention to enter into force. The Department for International Development (DFID) is currently reviewing the international development benefits of accession, and as part of this is seeking views from foreign governments, NGOs and academics.
	DFID is supporting transboundary water processes in the Middle East, and in Africa through the Nile Basin Initiative. These demonstrate the value of practical approaches to transboundary cooperation on water that yield significant benefits. In neither case is accession to the Convention considered necessary for our support of these processes.

Police Custody

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions prisoners were housed in police stations in each of the last six months due to prison overcrowding; and what additional funding has been provided to the police forces providing prison services.

David Hanson: The following table shows the occasions prisoners have been held under Operation Safeguard in England and Wales in each of the last six months.
	
		
			  2007  Occasions( 1) 
			 June 9,121 
			 July 747 
			 August 4,575 
			 September 6,820 
			 October 8,598 
			 November 6,830 
			 (1) One occasion means one prisoner night in a police cell. 
		
	
	The police forces involved charge NOMS for the cost of making police cells available to accommodate prisoners.